IPv4 markets and legacy space

Agenda

Regardless of the advent of IPv4 transfers, and the possible emergence of an IPv4 market, the future growth and success of the Internet relies on the successful deployment of IPv6. IPv6 provides the only means to achieve long-term and scalable growth of the Internet while maintaining its critical technical features.

This workshop will focus on the importance of IPv6 deployment, in particular, its relationship with the possible emergence of an IPv4 market and the successful and proper implementation of inter-regional IPv4 transfer policies. It will also address issues related to legacy space.

Currently two Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) allow transfers between their regions. APNIC and ARIN have worked with their communities to successfully implement IPv4 transfer policies following agreed procedures. Other regions have similar policies underway. The workshop will consider what aspects will enable balance, consistency, and fairness to define multiregional transfer policies.

Legacy IPv4 address space refers to those allocations made before the creation of the RIRs. This accounts for about 35% of total IPv4 space. What could be the actions of the RIR on this space and the cost benefit of engaging in a continuous recovering effort.

For many Internet stakeholders, the RIRs are entering into a new era where high-level principle documents like RFC2050 need to be reviewed or updated. What requires examination, in particular, are the possible effects of IPv4 address exhaustion on current RIR services and policies. For example, what actions the community should take in order to mitigate the effect of IPv4 address exhaustion, while simultaneously incentivizing global IPv6 deployment. Requiring consideration are the roles government, Internet operators, academia and other Internet organization should play.

The workshop will attempt to address the points outlined above through the opinions and views of a multi-disciplinary panel.